Once upon a Sunstone
by Absolyatare Sage
Summary: When five friends are shipwrecked on Dinotopia, each in turn has to come to terms with their new home, find peace and harmony with their minds, their friends and ultimately build themselves new lives on a Utopia that's not quite perfect.
1. when storm meets sea

Once upon a Sunstone

When storm meets sea

Ana allowed herself a small smile as she sighed with contentment. The wood was so warm under her body as she sunbaked, stretched out over the deck, a coil of thick rope serving as a pillow. She was unlikely to get burnt of course, seeing as it was late afternoon and soon the sun would be setting, but she still enjoyed the feel of the warm sunlight over her body. She wasn't too keen on getting too much more sunburnt anyway, considering she already had a tan darker than any she had ever had before already.

_That's what you get for letting that stupid brother of yours drag you into this!_ She thought to herself, recalling how her brother Brandon had talked her into signing up for this whole voyage thing with him a few months ago. Now she was sailing with the _Revewn_ around the world, as it were. It had cost their parents a lot of money to send their kids on this trip, but it was worth it. Ana had been having the absolute time of her life, and she could tell Brandon enjoyed it even more than her. Especially yesterday, when all of them had gotten up on deck and had that race that involved running, falling, glomping, a whole lot of seaweed and stinging tastebuds. Brandon always enjoyed anything with a challenge, or that involved physical activity.

She smiled as she listened to what was taking place below deck. A karaoke contest, and everyone had to take part. It had started not long ago and was bound to go on much longer, considering how many there were. The crew and the passengers together made up about 24, 25? But Ana had snuck out of it because she had been in the toilet when they started, and hopefully they wouldn't notice she was gone. It's not that Ana didn't like singing, in fact she thoroughly enjoyed it with a passion, but when she sang in front of more than her friends she just couldn't. She became nervous, her throat went dry, her heart would pound so hard it was almost painful. It always happened when she performed in front of crowds, albeit small ones. Even though she knew most of her companions reasonably well considering she had been travelling with them for the past week and a half, there were still those she wasn't really friends with and those she didn't like.

All of a sudden the sun disappeared from behind her eyelids and she opened her eyes, flinching with surprise. A tall figure loomed above her, his face silhouetted by the sun, but Ana could tell his hair was blond. Her heart leapt instantly, a deep pit opening in her stomach.

_Oh no, it's Matt…_ She squinted, trying not to show how nervous she was. Then he spoke.

"Hey Ana, what's up?" Relief showered over her, cool and refreshing. It wasn't Matt, it was just Scott. _Thank goodness._

"Ah, nothing." She sighed and sat up on the deck. Scott sat down next to her. She looked at him and grinned. He grinned back, running a hand through his windblown sandy blond-brown hair. Light brown eyes smiled into her own green ones. He flicked the end of her long light brown hair tied into a plait and she flicked it out of his reach.

"So what's up?" He asked, smiling again.

"Nothing." She replied, turning away.

"Then why are you up here on deck while everyone else is either singing or laughing at those who can't?"

"Because…"

"What, you can't sing? Don't you dare say that, you're great at it!"

"How do you know?"

"I heard you."

"When?"

"Last night."

"I wasn't singing last night."

"Yes you were."

"No I wasn't."

"Yeah you were."

"Nah, I wasn't."

"Yeah."

"Nah."

"Yeah you're right, I didn't hear you cos you weren't singing at all." He grinned, and Ana punched him in the shoulder playfully.

"Don't do that again!" She laughed.

"Why of course not, your highness! I wouldn't dare!" Scott cried in mock dismay.

"Shut up!" Ana pushed him gently with her palm. He gave her a little push in return. She elbowed him. He elbowed back. She bumped him with her shoulder, and he did the same. His bump was fairly strong and she jolted quite a bit. She growled playfully, got up into a quick crouch and threw all of her body weight at him. But it seemed he was prepared a barely moved a bit. She was taken by giggles and knew just what was going to happen next. He turned a flashed the most triumphant smile she had ever seen him make. She steeled herself, tensing every one of her muscles that she was aware of, and then he threw himself at her. Although he used less movement than her previous shove, he had enough power, and Ana was sure that he had a tremendous amount more packed in him, to send her tumbling sideways. The force was so great that she felt a tremour shudder through her body and her teeth cracked against each other. She hit the deck hard on her shoulder, pain erupting into it. She let out a small scream the moment of impact, but now she was just moaning in pain.

"Oah Ana, sorry! You alright?" Scott cried, leaning over her even as she rolled stiffly onto her back and suddenly became overwhelmed with a contagious laughter that she simply couldn't help.

"You – bum!" She laughed, trying desperately to catch her breath but her task was futile. So she gave up and just lay there laughing. After a moment Scott began laughing too, and in a moment they were both sprawled out on the deck, heads back, laughing hard.

Ana held her bruised shoulder with one hand, but loosely because just tensing one muscle hurt too much. Her head felt muddled and mushed up, every thought merged into one big emotion that was happiness. Then she wondered what those below would do when they found them both engaged in a massive laughing fit on the deck. She didn't have to wonder long.

"What the hell is going on here?" She looked up through the tears caused by pain and laughter alike to see Marc, one of the crew leaders, standing above them, a stern look on his face. Then she just laughed again, resting her head on the wooden boards again. Scott however sat up and controlled his laughter after less than a moment of struggle and grinned roguishly up at Marc.

"Nothing's going on, sir." He said, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, well clean your act up, both of you, cos you look like you just made out." He turned and went to go through the door to the cabin below but two people blocked it. "Get out my way." Marc growled and they sidestepped away, sensing his foul mood. They grinned out at Ana and Scott, a girl and a boy. The male was seventeen, two years older than Ana. The girl was fifteen like her, Scott the same. The seventeen year old was Brandon, Ana's older brother. The girl was Chloe, and Ana didn't like her very much. Chloe, Chloe, Chloe. With her long black hair and blue and blond streaks of her long fringe flowing down past the sides of her face, she was the only thing Brandon ever talked about aside from all the thrills he gets each day and how he's gonna go tell all his mates about everything that happens on the _Revewn _and how they're not gonna believe all the 'adventures' that he's had. The two had started going out almost a week ago, and now Ana was forced to hang around her. Maybe she was just antisocial, but she didn't consider herself as that. So she had simply told herself every now and then that yes, she needed to stand Chloe unless she was going to stop hanging out with her brother, which was definitely out of the question. Maybe it was the fact that her brother was going out with someone her age, two years younger than him. Maybe it just seemed wrong. But Ana couldn't be bothered trying to comprehend that at the moment.

The two came over, and before they shut the door Ana caught a swift glimpse of a face further back in the cabin from what she could make out from her obscured view, and her heart sank. It was Matt. His normally light blond hair was dark in the shadows and blue-grey eyes glared penetratingly into her, his expression angry, hurt and desperate all at the same time. His eyes contained a spark of barely contained rage. Ana's mouth went dry, her head grew clouded, and pure panic filtered through her. He hadn't looked that bad even when he had been rejected the day before.

She wanted to close her eyes, turn away, escape his furious gaze, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from him. Then the door slammed shut. The spell was broken, she was free, for the moment. She blinked, sighed and turned away. Brandon and Chloe sat down with her and Scott, and they made a square as it was.

"So what were _you two_ doing?" Brandon grinned hintingly.

"Laughing." Ana retorted instantly, glaring at him without meaning it.

"Well looks like we aren't gonna be deck slugging tonight!" Scott remarked, looking up pointedly. In response the other three scanned the horizon. The sun had set and all the clear blue sky had disappeared, leaving clouds to remain. But they weren't ordinary clouds – they were dark, brooding. There was humidity in the air that Ana hadn't noticed before, and a feeling of foreboding settled deep in her stomach.

"There's gonna be a storm." Chloe whispered, staring at the black clouds.

"No sh-" Ana was cut off when Scott coughed loudly and surreptitiously elbowed her. "What…" He flashed her a look, just as Brandon stood, Chloe's hand entwined with his.

"We'll go tell the captain." He said, and they walked back toward the door of the cabin. "Better come in a moment, you never know when the storm's gonna blow up." As they went under, Ana turned to Scott angrily.

"The hell was that?" She hissed, keeping her voice down even as she felt Matt's accusing eyes on her.

"You can't just go round being a bitch to her Ana, you know that." He said, his voice hard. Her mouth dropped open.

"I can say what I want, you don't control what I think!" She growled.

"No, you control what you think. But you can also make a decision about whether or not to say something, and if it's the right time and place to say it." He said, and when she didn't reply, he smiled half-heartedly and flicked her plait. "Come on, let's get undercover." She nodded and they stood to go below when the captain, a middle-aged man with greying hair, stepped out from the door and stared at the sky worriedly.

"Oah, I haven't seen such a storm about to strike in years and years." He mused, brushing his short beard thoughtfully. He turned and gestured to the expectant crew. "Orright, let's get this boat ready for this thing!" He bellowed, and most of the large group got to their feet and swarmed out the door. In the darkness the large torches were all that lighted the night. Even as the Captain yelled out orders, every member of the crew seemed to know exactly what their role was and what needed to be done, working quickly and efficiently. The wind was picking up, flinging Ana's hair in all directions that it pleased. Soon it was lashing against her face sharply. Moments later she left Scott's side to go and help ready the vessel they sailed on. He went to follow her when someone stood in his way. Matt ground his teeth together and approached Scott, his face expressionless. They stared at each other for a moment, and although Matt looked emotionless, Scott knew him well enough to know he was furious.

As the rain suddenly began to pour down in huge, torrential sheets, Matt growled and pushed Scott hard against his chest.

"Hey, what's up with you man?" Scott asked, although somehow he knew. He wasn't thick, he just tried to keep the peace.

"You know exactly what's up, Scottie mate. The hell's going on?" Matt ground, driving him against the _Revewn's _siderailing.

"Nothing's going on!" Scott said, trying to keep his anger from rising up inside him as the rain poured down on them. He could hear voices yelling, responding, overridden by the lashing wind, whipping water in his face, stinging, cutting. A flash of lightning from the heavy black clouds suddenly lighted up their faces, so close he felt tiny electric currents run through his body. Matt let go, gasping. He had felt them too. Thunder rumbled dangerously. Every sound on the boat was merged into one huge clamour that would not cease, then Scott thought he heard his name. He strained his ears as he struggled against the wind to stay upright. There it was again! Someone slid across the deck and hit the rail. Ana clutched three life jackets to her and was about to hold them out when something smashed against the boat's hull from the other side so hard Scott heard a loud creaking. But that wasn't what was on his mind. It was the fact that the moment the wave hit Ana screamed and went flying over the rail.

"Ana!" He and Matt cried simultaneously, both automatically preparing to dive overboard as they made out the small figure desperately thrashing around in the water. But they didn't get a chance. Scott looked up on instinct, his brown eyes settling on the tremendous wave coming straight for them. Huge and black, white foam strewn across it like a web. Ana was nowhere top be seen, vanished into the waters. Matt was paralysed with shock. Scott yelled Matt's name to get him out of his stupor and gripped the rail as tight as his body would allow. "Hold on!" He yelled, just as the wave hit.

Water shot into and around him, all over, the force so powerful his grip loosened and then he was rushing along with the water. The salt water was in his mouth, he was swallowing it. He hit so many things in his descent that he had no sense of left or right, up or down. He was constantly tumbling in the water, then he hit the other side rail. A deafening clash like lightning erupted in his skull, then he was smashed against the ocean's waters and everything went black.


	2. dolphinbacks

****

Once upon a Sunstone

Dolphinbacks

Brandon didn't know how long he had been in the water for. All he knew was the cold, the wet, the black, and Chloe's hand firmly clenched in his. The water had been tossing them everywhere for ages, the life jackets being the only things keeping them from drowning. But it had been a tremendous effort for both of them keeping their heads out of the water to breathe, and if Brandon was exhausted he didn't want to think about how Chloe felt. He could barely make her out in all the rain and water. The boat had disappeared long ago.

Chloe was gasping for air, then another wave washed over them, one of the countless ceaseless black currents that refused to abate. The storm didn't look like it was going to desist at all.

They met the rainy air again, and Brandon sucked in the air gratefully, just like every other single breath he had taken for the past who-knows-how-long. Chloe however let out a bout of ragged harsh coughs. She was breathing badly.

Brandon decided to try again, for both their sakes. He took a deep breath and began to yell. "Help!" He cried, "Help, please!" But he knew his efforts were in vain. The boat was gone, the mast was broken from what he last saw, and all there was were the huge black waves on all sides, like a quivering, living crater of wetness. He was ready give up, to let go. But something deep inside him just wouldn't let him. It was the need, the urge to survive, to hang on to life whatever it took. And he wouldn't dare give up on Chloe like that.

It was maybe a few minutes later that he felt her grip starting to loosen. He glanced over and couldn't make out her figure as well as he could have before. She was sinking.

"No! Come on, don't give up, stay with me, please!" He cried, pulling her above the water again. She gasped and choked.

"I ca- I can't…" She stuttered, her teeth chattering involuntarily.

"Yes you can!" Brandon yelled above the wind and the rain, hugging her tightly in the water where they were. He kicked both legs strongly with all the energy he had left, trying to keep them both up. But it was no use and he knew it. They were both going to drown.

Then his eyes picked up on something else. A streak in an oncoming wave, made from a grey fin. His heart leapt. A shark. No, they weren't going to drown. They were going to be eaten. Chloe had no idea. She was too busy sobbing into his chest. Then another grey fin, and one leapt out of the water toward them. He stayed still, knowing they could not possibly escape, expecting of his fate, when he realised what it was. Not a shark, but a dolphin! Three dolphins, swimming right towards them! Hope filled him, recalling stories of friendly dolphins that chased away sharks and followed boats. Then all of a sudden he was being lifted; something had swum underneath him. Chloe was surprised when she was pushed sideways by something moving swiftly, then a dolphin swam underneath her. The fin appeared in front of her face and she seized it automatically.

Ana let go of the dolphin and began to swim. She was dressed for swimming so she had no clothes that would weigh her down. She felt like she should do a bit of work, considering how far the dolphin had carried her. Actually, she wasn't sure how far she had gone, or for how long. All she remembered was the dolphin appearing next to her, swimming deep underwater, then on the surface for ages and ages.

Now as she swam she heard it 'squealing' to an effect. She turned out onto her back and paddled with her feet, watching the beautiful grey creature go under then come shooting out from the water, flipping and flying through the air in a gleeful performance. She watched it, breathtaken. She wondered how the dolphin could have known to rescue her at the right time, and she wondered where it had taken her. She rolled in the water again to face the land. All she could see was a cove, a beach, stretching further than she could see to either side.

All of a sudden the Dolphin began to squeal alarmingly. Ana looked back, worry entering her mind. "What is it? What's wrong?" She cried, instantly wondering why she was actually trying to communicate with an animal. Then something dug into her left leg, her calf just below the knee. Her scream of surprise and pain was whipped away from her as the water closed down over her head.

She panicked under the deep blue water. Something had her, it was dragging her deeper and deeper! _A shark? _She wondered, but only for a moment. Right now she was more concerned about herself.

She thrashed and struggled to free her leg, but her attempts were futile and the pain excruciating. She wanted to scream but that would involve a mouthful of seawater. Her air was being used up quickly, and she was now certain that she was going to die.

She could see the creature that had a hold on her leg, and it absolutely horrified her. It was huge in her eyes, about five meters long from nose to tip of the tail, unless her vision was distorted underwater. It had a fat, oval-shaped body, a long but stubby tail and the snout was almost a meter long by itself. Four long fins protruded from it's body. It's colouring was black on the top half, but the belly was white. It was dragged her deeper, and it occurred to her that it was trying to drown her.

That was when she saw it. The reason why she could actually see under the water. The thing had dragged her near the bottom now, and there, sitting on the yellow sand, was what looked like a loose bag made from sackcloth. But that wasn't what fascinated her. It was what sat in the mouth of the sack, a small thing, but awesome. She couldn't make out exactly what it was, but it glowed with a white light, soft and beautiful.

Captivated, all Ana could think about suddenly was getting it. She began to struggle and try with all her might to be released from the creature's jaws, but it began to shake her. Her whole body was thrust back and forth for a few seconds, so fast and with such force her head spun and hurt, but oddly the pain in her leg seemed to cease to almost nothing. She felt detached. Then all of a sudden all the shaking stopped, and she was released. Her eyes focused for a moment, long enough to see a whole pod of dolphins attacking the creature. It roared amongst their squeals and trills, then turned and swam away. Many pursued it and probably would for a while longer before ceasing their pursuit.

Ana used a few seconds to kick to the sea floor and seize the sack bag before two dolphins were pushing her up toward the surface. The light of the white stone thing disappeared, and she closed her eyes against the rush of water and bubbles before she hit the surface. She gulped in mouthfuls of air and coughed up water. Having no idea how she had managed to hold her breath for so long, she thought nothing more of it. The two dolphins carried her as close to the beach as they could without beaching themselves, and she got off there, standing in the water and thanking them. Tears of gladness ran down her face as she stroked them both. One rolled around and around on the spot and she laughed.

"Okay, I better go now." She said, and bent down and hugged both the dolphins tightly. Then she turned and walked onto the beach. She glanced over her shoulder. The whole pod was calling and flipping up in the air, twisting, smashing back down into the water. She smiled widely and waved, doing her own quick little victory dance, before suddenly pain shot all up her lag. She gasped and collapsed onto the sand, stretching her leg out where her blood seeped out onto the sand, staining it red.

As Ana inspected her wounds, she felt her stomach lurch. The teeth marks were at least two centimeters deep each, and she could see right to the bone in some of the red cavities. She felt sick.

She tried to stand again, but the pain shot up her leg again and she couldn't move. It throbbed and throbbed, waves of agonising pain that left her lying on the sand covering her eyes with one arm and groaning.

After a while the pain became bearable and she tried standing again, but it was hopeless. Furthermore she didn't want to put any weight on it because it would probably make it bleed faster. Instead she put her hands around her leg and applied pressure, trying to cut of the circulation as much as she dared to slow the bleeding.

She heard a sudden squealing, and she looked up to see four dolphins flipping close to shore, looking at her quizzically, almost worriedly she thought. Or maybe it was from loss of blood, evident by the gradually pooling blood on the sand beneath her leg.

"If you understand what I'm saying, please, get help, won't you?" Ana asked desperately. The dolphins squealed, turned and swam away, leaping in and out of the water as they went. Ana felt terribly lonely and abandoned the moment they were out of sight, and she sighed and clutched at her leg all the harder. She had to try and do something!

She put her hands flat on the sand and braced herself to get up, but her hand come into contact with something different. She picked it up. It was the sack in which lay the mysterious glowing… thing.

She held her breath as she loosened the cord at the sack's mouth and looked inside. A brilliant light flooded out, momentarily blinding her. She allowed a few long moments for her eyes to adjust to the light, then reached into the sack. It actually turned out to be a beautiful semi-transparent quartz-like crystal, an oval shape more flat than spherical, about ten centimeters in diameter. It glowed with such a pure white light that Ana was captivated by it, mesmerised. She rubbed it, ran her hands over it constantly for near a minute before she cradled it one last time and replaced it in the sack. Then it's light shone on something else in there, something much larger. She reached in and took the thing out. It seemed to be a large egg, slightly faded from exposure to water but she could see that it was a shade of cream. It was rather heavy, and about thirty centimeters long. It was fat and Ana needed both hands to hold it. She put it back in the sack.

Retrieving the glowing stone again, she looped the sack's rope over her shoulder and gathered all her strength. The stone seemed to _give _her strength, and she stood. She began to walk, ever step agony. The first few steps tore a pained cry from her, but she began to get used to it. After walking about ten meters she suddenly heard something. A roar, sort of crossed with a screech. Sort of like the sounds dinosaurs make on movies, but somehow different.

Ana froze, listening intently. It came again. Whatever it was, if it saw her light it would most probably come her way. She went to put it in the sack, but then changed her mind and deposited it in her large board shorts pocket, securing the velcro and button well so no light seeped out. This was because if she had to run she would probably abandon the egg in the sack considering how heavy it was.

She heard something big trundling around in the bushes nearby, and she stood as still as a statue aside from her faint shivering. It was only then that she realised how cold she was, taking into account that all she wore was her bikini and a pair of board shorts.

Then she heard a human voice, that of a male. "Well if someone was here, they'd be giving us a yell wouldn't they? Ironic the day after Nick goes and runs off another dolphinback pops up out of nowhere, eh?" What followed was a deep resonating sound that Ana presumed came from the thing that had been roaring earlier, and the guy spoke again. "Yeah well, I'm not sure what you just said, so I'll just take it that you reckon there's no one here. Let's go back." There was that distinctly odd roar again, then the voice right before it was even finished. "Okay, okay, we'll look a bit more!" There was the sound of movement in the bushes, then a boy of about eighteen or nineteen years emerged from the leafy foliage. "Alright then, anybody here?" He called.

Ana rubbed her leg. "Hello." She said, wanting to laugh because he had no idea she was standing there and wanting to cry at the same time because she was looking at another human being. The guy jumped.

"Hey, you are here! Hey Keelan, come quick!" He jogged over to her, now aware of where she was, and proceeded to unintentionally tower over her. He thrust a burning torch in her face, inspecting her closely. She blinked in surprise. "Yes?"

He smiled. He had nice eyes, bright, sparkling and green, like hers, but his hair was pitch black. He had a nice smile. "You're very good-looking, but I'm not sure whether it's taboo here to go out with someone that much younger than me. Now come along now, we'll get you to the hatchery." She stared at him.

"What?"

"Come along, we're going back to the hatchery now that we've found you."

"No wait, I can't, my leg's hurt." He turned and inspected her leg closely.

"Hoi, that's gotta hurt. How on earth did you do that?" He asked, a look of concern flittering across his face.

"I was swimming after this dolphin saved me, and this… this _thing _came along and dragged me down by my leg!" Ana explained dramatically.

"Oh, not good. So how did you get away? Dolphins helped you, eh?" He asked, answering his own question.

"…Yes, how did you know?"

"Thought so. Oi Keelan, where are you?" A roar sounded from nearby in response, and something came lumbering out of the bushes. Ana's eyes widened. It was a dinosaur, a triceratops, a few meters long and _huge! _She especially noticed the six long, sharp horns protruding from it's crest, and the one from above it's nose near the end of it's snout and black eyes flashed and looked at her. Then it began to walk towards them.

"No. No, no, no, no…" She stuttered, stepping back a few times, fresh waves of pain throbbing into her leg. She stumbled and fell backward into the sand, then began to scramble away as it came closer. It looked at her with an odd expression and made a series of squawking sounds, much different from it's previous rumbling roars.

"Woah, hold up there." The young man easily picked her up back onto her feet. "Keelan's harmless, really. He actually finds you rather amusing."

"What?" It took Ana a moment to realise that the dinosaur was actually _laughing _at her! "What, laughing, amused? It's a _dinosaur!_"

"That's right. A Pachyrhinosaurus to be exact. And a he. And he's my Saurian partner."

"Pachyrhinosaurus? Saurian partner?" Ana stumbled over the new terms, trying to comprehend it all. She could barely believe her eyes. Maybe she had swallowed too much salt water and was hallucinating or something…

"Come along now, you must be tired and all. All will be explained when we get home."


	3. acquaintances

****

Once upon a Sunstone

Acquaintance

The rest of the night was a blur in Ana's eyes. A long, slow and bumpy ride upon the Pachyrhinosaurus called Keelan that was so uncomfortable that her tired and weary body resorted to a kind of half-conscious state. Every step the Dinosaur took sent a jolt pain up her leg, despite the makeshift material bandage wrapped tightly around the wound.

When they reached a large building sitting on a hill, it seemed unearthly. With a brown thatch roof and a tall tower, several dinosaurs of many different species sat or wondered around in the early hours of the morning. At the very top of the tower a bright white light shone out – the same white light as the glowing stone Ana had found at the bottom of the sea.

It had all felt like a dream. The white light blurred everything else out, dinosaurs bellowed out every now and then, she was dimly aware of the young man speaking, then she remembered being helped to stumble up a few stairs before she was lifted into the air, and the next time she was put down was into a soft, comfortable bed of a sort, and the instant her head hit the pillow she slept.

Ana opened her eyes. She stared at a wooden ceiling, the beams supporting the structure above her. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up rather sluggishly. Looking around, she found that she was in a wooden room that contained the bed in which she sat, a small shelf and a bedside table on which sat a few books, all very ancient-looking with their worn leather covers and yellowing pages. The room she had was closed off from whatever else was there with a thick curtain, the length and width about two meters to move around in.

The bed was odd. A perfect circular shape, it seemed to be constructed of interwoven yellow grasses, but was still strong enough to support her weight. She climbed out of the white sheets and stood. A dull ache touched inside her lower leg, and she looked down. She still wore the clothes she had arrived in, but also wore a plain white shirt. Lifting her left leg and settling it on the edge of the bed, she inspected it after carefully removing the clean bandages. Staring in wonder, she touched the nearly healed skin from where the monster's teeth had sunk in. New and white, it stood out from the tanned skin on her leg.

She looked at the wooden table and shelf. On the table sat a small glass lamp with a white light coming from inside, the only light in the room that had no windows, and instinctively her hand strayed down to her pocket. Yep, it was still there. She could feel it through the material.

On the two shelves were an assortment of strange things. On the top shelf were leaves, interesting little stones and bits of bark. On the bottom shelf were pieces of eggshell, all of the same egg. Some pieces were large, others small, but all put together they would make up a very large egg, Ana was sure. Instinctively she looked around for the sack that contained the egg she had found, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Then she spotted something else. On the wall of the small room hung a painting. Quite large, it was a portrait of a boy and a little baby dinosaur. She inspected it closer and came to a conclusion that it was of the young man and his pachyrhinosaurus. He was unmistakable with his bright green eyes prominent, the Saurian's eyes as black and shining as his hair.

Feeling suddenly worn out, Ana slumped down onto the circular bed, overwhelmed. It wasn't all a dream, this was for real. Dinosaurs weren't wiped out long ago; they survived on an undiscovered island, unknown to the rest of the world. But how could this be? How could they not know about it? Maybe it was just one of those things the government was keeping from the public. Rumours were that the American government knew and had proof about the existence of aliens, but what about something right here, on their planet? Aliens were one thing, dinosaurs another. If they knew about it she was sure the public would know. But then how couldn't they know?

After a while of befuddling herself with all manner of these questions, her slumber-slowed mind gave up and she drew back the curtain a little, enough for her to slip out.

The light from the little lamp in the room she had slept in was the only thing preventing her from stumbling all over the place, and it was a lucky thing too as she distinguished a myriad of other little rooms barred off by curtains like her own, all clustered into a large, wide hallway. Leaving the curtain open for light additional to that of which shone through a large window and the end of the hall, she made her way through the emptiness to a doorway that was missing a door and went through. From what she could gather in the oddly clear darkness she had stepped into a kitchen, joining into a living room. The bench was made of wood, cuts in it from lack of a cutting board, she could tell from touch. Squinting in the darkness, her eyesight in the night never really being that good, she felt her way along the bench until she found a new doorway, running her hand over shelves apparently containing food, sacks and the like in the process. Then she was running her hand over smooth wall, wishing she could see better.

Then she saw a shadow move.

Instantly an image of Tyrannosaurus Rex running toward her, mouths wide with gleaming, bloodstained teeth flickered into being in her mind, and she froze, her body seemingly clamped up. It took her a moment to realise she wasn't breathing, and she squeezed her eyes shut, cursing her overactive imagination and wishing her eyesight was even worse than it already was. She stood perfectly still for a few minutes before she forced herself to move again.

__

Nothing like that's going to happen. She told herself, _you're just overreacting. _Nevertheless her heart still pounded loudly, almost painfully in her chest. She wished she were never on edge so much. She wished that when she was little Brandon hadn't always jumped on her late at night as she was just drifting off to sleep, she wished he had never used to leap out at her from behind doors and walls and from under her bed and from inside the wardrobe. He had been to mean to her back then, and while she had always screamed and screamed he would always laugh and laugh. She could never scare him. Brandon was never scared. He was always so brave and courageous, always doing the things that offered a thrill.

Minutes later she found herself slowly and carefully making her way down the corridor, or that's what she thought it was. Every step she tried to think logically and realistically as her brain subconsciously thought up things that would come out and grab her bare ankles, teeth ripping out of the wall to take hold of her wrists. Huge marine dinosaurs chomping into her body. That was a particular thought that she simply couldn't banish from her mind. It was too real, too recent, too close to comfort. Her close brush with death had her fearing for her life almost every moment even though she hadn't felt wet since then on the beach.

With the thought of water she licked her parched lips. Her mouth was dry too, and a moment later she found herself struggling not to explode into a bout of coughing from the dryness. Her head felt like it was ready to explode as the compulsion to cough faded away. There felt like a knot in her chest as she tried not to make a sound. People were meant to cough when they felt like it, meant to sneeze when it happened, not hold it in and not breathe. That was why it always hurt so much, she decided, making her way further down.

Suddenly she hit some stairs. With ample care she made her way down.

When she reached the bottom of the narrow, steep stairway, she saw light at the bottom of a wooden door before her. Slowly pushing it open, she was greeted with a scene she could have never imagined up.

A large, long room stood before her, shelves lining the walls on either side. The shelves were filled with smaller compartments, but small they were not. Each compartment was almost a meter tall and half a meter wide, each containing a large oval egg sitting comfortably in a nest of hay. Each egg had a number printed on it in black lettering. The highest nest was close to double her height, and there was a dim yellow glow cast upon everything coming from another room all the way down at the other end of the egg room.

A sudden thought rushed through her head, and she jogged silently toward the orange glow, furtively hoping it wasn't what she thought it was. Then she saw what lay in the room.

It wasn't as large as she expected it to be. A small room, with a huge woodpile and a large furnace in the center, directly in front of her. Above it hung a basin of water, steaming heavily, the cause of the unnatural humidity in the room full of eggs. The fire burned brightly, sending flickers of orange and gold across the walls, shedding light on something else in the room.

It was the young man, the one who had found her. He was settled into a large padded chair, breathing lightly as he slept, one arm draped down to the floor where a long black metal poker lay, seemingly abandoned.

Ana stared at him for a minute or so, her heart leaping when he suddenly stirred. He barely opened his eyes as his fingers searched the floor for a moment before clenching around the handle of the poker. He stumbled up, not noticing her just beyond the doorway, standing quiet and still as he picked up two blocks of wood, one in each hand and threw them into the fire. The flames rose hotly, and he used the poker to push the wood in further, throwing a few more in before turning to stumble back to his chair. Suddenly his eyes opened completely and he looked up, his eyes settling on her. Normally a bright green, they looked dark but intriguing as flames danced in his eyes, his form half silhouetted in front of the furnace.

Ana's heart was pounding madly, but settled a little when he spoke after a strange silence.

"So how many times are you gonna do that to me" He asked, his eyes sparkling.

"How many times am I gonna do what" She asked in reply, not quite sure what he was talking about.

"Well, Dolphinback, this is the second time you've been just standing there without me realising." He said, smirking slightly. She felt a tiny spark of anger in her over his expression, but it was pointless to get angry over something so little, she reasoned with herself.

"Why are you calling me dolphinback" She asked, changing the subject. "Why don't you call me by my name"

"I would if I knew your name." He said, and she was hit with her own stupidity.

"Ana." She stumbled, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's alright. I'm Kadmiel. Nice to meet you." He flashed a kind smile that melted her inside and held out a hand. She smiled in return, grasping his in her own and shaking. Inside she sighed with relief. Something normal. But it wasn't like she shook people's hands everyday. Actually she hadn't done it for ages it seemed, so it felt pretty abnormal at that moment.

Kadmiel, as Ana now knew him, stood straight. It was only then that she realised he had been sort of slouching. If she had thought he was tall before, now he towered over her like a menacing… thing. "Well then _Ana_, I see that you're up." Her eyes widened in mock shock, her sense of sarcastic humour finding it's way back into her.

"_You_ _reckon?_" She gasped sardonically, her mouth dropping open. He chuckled and glanced away.

"Yes, I reckon. So how did you sleep"

"Like a log."

"That's good. I hope you appreciate it because I was banished to the furnace room for the past day and a half." Ana blinked before it set in.

"Wait, that was your bed" She asked, slightly incredulous.

"Yes." He replied. She should have worked it out earlier. The picture of him and the dinosaur on the wall, and… the eggshells on the shelf? That must mean… the creature's eggshell? Which meant the eggs in the room behind her were…

"They're dinosaur eggs" She gasped, staring into Kamiel's eyes. He nodded sagely. She stared at him for a moment more, before her thoughts turned to the mysterious egg in the sack. "Did you, did you get the"

"We did." He said, looking at her knowingly, his face serious. She blinked. How did he know what she was going to say? When she didn't say anything, he went on. "Obviously you didn't know what it was. An Oviraptor egg. That's why it's so much smaller than the rest. I assume you know what one is" Ana nodded. "Well we had this guy, Nick come here for his saurian partner from Waterfall City, and that was two days ago, the night he arrived, he… I hate to say, _stole _the egg, probably because it was small, and tried to get off the island in the very lifeboat that took him here. From the evidence, what with the sack being found by you at the bottom of the ocean and the marine creature that attacked you, we came to a conclusion that he must unfortunately be… eaten."

Ana stared at him. She didn't know what to think now. All her thoughts were muddled and merged, and finally she focused on one. The egg. "So… the egg, it's…"

"The poor thing was lost, but that was inevitable once Nick took it. The mother, she's been so stricken it's terrible." Kadmiel sighed and scratched the back of his head. Ana stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry."

"Woah, what are you saying sorry for" He asked, trying to pick up the light atmosphere. "It wasn't your fault, you only just arrived"

"How long was I asleep"

"Almost 24 hours." Ana nodded absentmindedly, before thinking of something.

"How did my leg heal to damn fast" She exclaimed.

"Special herbs we've got." Kadmiel replied. She wondered what kinds of herbs could trigger such a fast recovery, but then her train of thought led her to the first short conversation she and Kadmiel had the night before. She blushed a little, a small smile on her face.

"You think I'm pretty" She murmured, avoiding his eyes. He looked at her blankly for a moment before realisation hit him. He went a bit red and ran a hand through his black hair, but kept a calm composure.

"Um… maybe." He said stoically, acting as if it was no big deal. She didn't see his embarrassment and suddenly felt foolish.

"Sorry." She apologised awkwardly over nothing.

"Oh, no, nothing to it." Kadmiel smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, um… anymore questions"

"…You reckon I could have something to eat" Ana grinned, a hand on her stomach. As if on cue it grumbled loudly. Kadmiel laughed.

"It would be my pleasure."


End file.
